But businesses who will be competing directly with the Austin, Texas-based national grocer were not enthused.

"Competition coming into town squeezes everybody," said John Snyder, owner of Meridian Township's Foods For Living. "My main concern is for the people who work with us. A store that size, there is not enough dollars in this market for everybody if they were here, so that means somebody has to go.

"I guess it comes down to if (customers) want somebody from Texas taking their money out of state or if they want to help their local store."

Whole Foods Market Inc. announced it plans to open its seventh Michigan location at 2758 E. Grand River Ave. in Meridian Township in 2015. The store expects to create about 150 jobs.

Snyder, whose Foods For Living opened at 2655 E. Grand River Ave. in 1997, owns and operates the business with his wife, Wilma. In 2007, they began giving stock to employees, allowing workers to own a piece of the store. Now the business is owned by nearly 30 employees, he said.

The addition of Whole Foods to the Lansing area's health-foods industry will affect his business, Snyder said.

"My family has been here for 135 years. I'm a fourth-generation retailer. I think we'll be impacted," he said. "Someone's got to go, but it probably won't be us. It'll hurt us, though."

Snyder acknowledged that competition breeds success, but he said the health-foods industry in the capital region isn't large enough to sustain the increased competition Whole Foods will bring.

"If you have a big enough playing field, yes, competition is good, however the Lansing market is not that big," he said. "Like I said, there's going to be some people who won't be in business when they're all done.

"There's not that much business in Lansing, Michigan, period."

Jeff Smith, co-director for the Lansing Economic Area Partnership's New Economy Division, disagreed. He said more options within the marketplace are good for the industry and, by extension, the regional economy.

"What you're seeing is that Grand River Avenue as it is in East Lansing and the Meridian Township area is a commercial corridor with an incredible amount of potential from a growth standpoint," Smith said. "(Places like Foods For Living) have their followers, and that isn't going to go away--the loyalty to those stores by their members and to their shoppers, that's not going away.

"This is providing more variety in the market, and any time you offer that to consumers it is helpful. It allows our consumer base to be more savvy."

Whole Foods is the eighth-largest food and drug store in the U.S. It operates more than 340 locations across North America and the United Kingdom.

Smith said a national company's expansion into the region is a good sign for the Lansing-area.

"It demonstrates that the larger market sees this region as a real and growing opportunity for them to expand into," he said. "To be in the same conversation as other national markets bodes really well. (Whole Foods') investment in the Lansing area, their investment in Michigan bodes really well."

Heather Hymes, manager of the Lansing City Market, said she expects Whole Foods to put pressure on hers and other businesses in the region.

"It's going to be very difficult for small, local businesses to compete with a national chain," she said. "They're able to do things differently than small local businesses, like lower prices. I think that's probably where we'll be hit hardest.

"We work with local farmers, so people who believe in that hopefully will still support that and not jump for something 25 cents lower. As long as customers stay loyal, I think we'll be OK."

The Lansing City Market is in a different position, Hymes said, as it's open year-round. The 325 City Market Drive location is home to 15 locally owned and operated businesses.

Hymes said her market will feel an impact from Whole Foods' arrival, but she thinks the worst will be felt by the individual business owners in the Lansing-area industry.

"I think competition is good, but we also get to a point where it's really difficult for a small micro-business to run deals like you see at a Kroger--it's just not possible," Hymes said.

"It'll force people to step their game up a little bit. We're dealing with a huge, corporate business, and that changes the game."